A roadmap for born accessible content

PROGETTO IN CORSO

Inclusive publishing ecosystem. A roadmap for born accessible content

13 November 2015, Laboratorio Formentini per l'editoria

The concept

Digital technologies provide incredible opportunities to facilitate access to reading for people with visual disabilities. To fully exploit the potential, strong collaboration among all players in the book value chain is essential.

In recent years considerable progress in the field of accessibility has been made, thanks to the collaboration among publishing sector, standard setting organizations and associations representing visual impaired people.

However there are still margins for improvements and in order to achieve full accessibility in the whole publishing ecosystem, other actors of the value chain, such as technology companies, distribution platforms and e-commerce sites have to be involved. Further efforts are required for the development of fully accessible e-reading solutions (software and device).

One of the starting points for the workshop is the “Baseline for born accessible EPUB” document, whose aim is to foster, thanks to a consensus approach, a more inclusive publishing ecosystem.

The workshop will provide participants with an updated overview on the state of the art of accessibility in the field of digital publishing, gathering experience, knowledge and skills of all those already involved. The workshop will also contribute to the definition of common strategies for further collaboration and to the development of new models of production, distribution and use of accessible digital content.

It also aims to bring the attention of the institutions on the most promising areas for public investment and on the actions needed to support the ecosystem to be more accessible.